It's been a long, hot, summer, and my blogging inspiration has hit rock bottom. Today I felt chatty so just wanted to share a couple of updates. First up, food! The two pizza recipes are by Jim Lahey with the no knead bread technique I mentioned a couple of months ago. I'd been dying to try out a few of the recipes in his book (which all look delicious and easy btw) so since I was craving carbs a few weeks ago I decided on pizza. The Pizza Funghi (Mushroom Pizza) is to the left while the Pizza Batata (Sweet Potato Pizza) is below. Both pizzas were fantastic, more like an thin crust of bread with some insanely simple, unique and delicious toppings.If I had to pick a favorite it's the Funghi while B's is the Batata which was a tad too sweet for me. The next time I make it I think I'll add some potatoes to the topping just to prevent it from getting overly sweet. I also made the entire batch of pizza dough in the recipe, froze it and made them 2 weeks apart and it turned out great. I love it when I can cut time in half by making a bigger batch and then freezing, so I can definitely say that the recipes worked for me on many levels.

What do you guys do for breakfast? I tend to keep it simple with oats and any fruit I have lying around. Once in a while I might get creative with honey & cinnamon. Last weekend, being bored with oats, I decided on making the Dutch Baby (pics below). The recipe I used was Alton Brown's and while it looked spectacular in the oven, it didnt rock my world much. Imagine an eggier, denser pancake ... and I dont much like pancakes. Anyway, we ate it drizzled with agave syrup and some lemon shown below and it was nice. I wish I had made a syrup (blueberries and lemon was the original idea) to pour over it, but I got lazy. It was ok for a taste, but has so much butter & sugar I'm pretty sure I'm never going to be making it again.

I just realised the last time I was at the movies was to watch the immensely disappointing Shutter Island, an entire FIVE months ago. I've been really uninterested with the summer movie fare this year ... but I think it's about to change now. I see a couple of interesting movies coming up, high on my list are Inception and Salt.

Anyway, so there I was trolling along on IMDB and I came across the Hollywood version of The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo. And Daniel Craig is all set to play Mikael Blomkvist!! I dont really know how to take this information, while I love Craig, Blomkvist's character and personality is bland and Craig doesnt fit that description by any means. It will be interesting to watch how he interprets the character ... I cant help but compare with the last Gary Stu character I watched on screen -Robert Langdon/Tom Hanks - and it was such a train wreck. I still shudder when IMDB or Netflix ambushes me with posters of the Dan Brown movies.

I did watch the Swedish version of Dragon Tattoo and loved it, the characters of Blomkvist and Salander played perfectly by actors Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace respectively. I really had no faults to find with the movie. But the sequel, The Girl Who Played with Fire was awful. The book itself is quite rambling in scope, consequently the script suffered and it just comes across as a very confused movie. I hope Hollywood manages to get the Salander character cast right, I really dont see any of the current actresses as edgy enough for the role.

Also, I stumbled across this on IMDB and startled B by letting out a squeal of excitement. It's the page for a version of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander. As some of you might remember, I adore the book which is one of my favorite romance reads. Unfortunately the casting isnt up yet, so I cant obsess over the characters, but I am so excited to see it in development. I do hope it's finally made into a movie. On Ms. Gabaldon's FAQ pages is the question about whether she's working on a script and she replies with 'Right, which 40 pages do you want to see made into a movie?' which is accurate, Outlander is such a dense novel with so many interconnected plots it's going to be extremely difficult to come up with a movie which remains true to the book while also satisfying tons of fans worldwide. But, one lives in hope.

Any other movies I should be keeping an eye out for? And what's on your must watch list this summer?

Edited to add: I cannot believe I did an entire post about movies I'm looking forward to without including The One(Two) Movie That Beats Them All heh ... who else is looking forward to it? And did anyone else think that Harry looked like a hobbit in the last movie??

11
comments:

I used to have oats and apple for breakfast for long, and that's the best breakfast possible. But now, since I make idlis for the boy, I have them too. lol, you'll faint if I tell you when I stepped into the theatre last.

You didnt like Shutter Island? Then let me warn you - Inception is similar in theme... Let me know how u find it...

Salt? Seems quite run-of-the-mill from the jolie stable... "A manly looking old woman with big boobs and bigger lips and guns..." No thank you... I'd rather watch it on cable if nothing else is playing... Although I could be wrong... Did you hear, now she wants to play James Bond... With Craig still around, all I could come up was a *scoff*

Daniel Craig is versatile... If the role is bland, he should be able to do it with elan.

Bubbless - Idlis are the best, I wish I lived where I could get them fresh and early in the morning. Nowadays, my breakfasts consist strictly of very quick meals. As for the movie-going - heh- but then you have a very cute reason for it :)

EISI - Thanks! You dont sound too excited about Inception? Have you watched it or just going by the theme/trailers etc? As for Salt, I watched the trailers and it seemed like fun, plus I dont seem to have the issues you have with Jolie so I think I could be entertained :) The James Bond bit is strange though. Yeah, Craig is amazing, it'll be fun to see what he does with the character.

Salt did look like fun, but the wrinkles around Jolie's eyes were a different story altogether... :P

I do not have a problem with Jolie - I'd have the same problem when someone like SRK claims he can play a role made memorable by Amitabh... ("Don" anyone???) Someone should tell her that having a good PR agency does not make you a good actor/actress...

Btw, Wanted was a hit... (both the english and the hindi one). It was also enjoyed by me as was Tomb Raider. But even a Spike can get tired of watching the same gun twirling and Jumps, etc.... Over-rated I say (I guess I do have a problem with that :P) On the bright side, atleast she is not adopting more children to be in the headlines... ;-)

EISI - watched it last night. You were absolutely right about the theme :S You should have reviewed it!! I thought it was slightly disappointing and couldnt get over the Batman music. As for Jolie, I think it's admirable that she is doing what she can for disadvantaged children, even the money from the photo ops go to various charities.

Avdi - I wish it too :) As for Craig, my feelings exactly. Blomkvist is the perfect Gary Stu character, like Robert Langdon, even I get irritated with him. If you get your hands on the Swedish version, the actress who plays Salander is so perfect for the role, I cannot imagine anyone else doing it anymore.

Talk about no blogging inspiration, mine has been almost dormant for over 7 months. Just barely got a simple post out, I have a "Julie & Julia" edit stuck for a year.That pizza looked great, I like the mushroom too.Nothing special for breakfast, usually just grab some toast or cereal before rushing to catch the train.Liked to see you reference Alton Brown, he is another of my Cooking Channel favorites. It is funny that Alton mentioned he grew up on Jeff Smith's "The Frugal Gourmet"; I did as well. Jeff used to be really good, although later in his career he was accused of child-molestation.I don't think I have sen a movie in a theater this year; so not much to add there.Yummy, detailed, informative review.

Samir - Netflix has J&J on the instant watch q, maybe a rewatch to get the mojo back? :) I like Alton Brown's scientific approach to things, I find if I have to try something new usually his basic recipes are always fool-proof, so I use those initially before trying anything fancy. Had no idea about Jeff Smith, will google him now!

EISI - The movie didnt impress me enough to make me want to think about it after I left the theatre, so I will not be reviewing.